WTF? Cannondale (the bike company) files for bankruptcy!

[Fausto]

Linky.

 

[slikmunks]

damn, i kind of liked their shock design, the one where there's only one spring, rather than 2...

 

[Hamburgerpimp]

The bike industry is hurting. We import 80% of our bikes from China, that's why. The only two companies making a profit are Trek and Specialized. And it's slim at that. They should have seen the writing on the wall when all their management was leaving months ago!

 

[bmacd]

man, the economy realls sucks this and last year....

-=bmacd=-

 

[Zebo]

Just think you could buy such a well know name and company "cannondale" right now for 3.5M... As they said tring to make dirtbikes killed em.. Japanese way to cheap and better.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Too bad (though I have never been much of a C'dale fan). It sounds as though their motorcycle venture has not really worked out for them - it must have required very high initial costs for tooling and marketing.

 

[CraigRT]

that sucks.. when i was into the sport alot like 2-3 years ago Cannondale seemed to be loosing steam... but this is just crap!!

 

[GTaudiophile]

Dang...I own a Cannondale...not like I'm a biker or anything, though.

 

[AMDJunkie]

A legacy goes...

Not like Jonny will miss it but still...

 

[Bulk Beef]

Man, I didn't even click on your link and I thought "I'll bet it was that stupid dirtbike that did them in."

 

[Anubis]

they made some nice bikes but they were overpriced. it is bad to see this happen tho. I personally like Gary Fichser and specialized better

 

[d33pt]

This is bad news. I've been looking into buying a Cannondale Speed ATV, since Honda can't seem to get a new bike released. I guess they haven't sold many of those either.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: Don_Vito
Too bad (though I have never been much of a C'dale fan). It sounds as though their motorcycle venture has not really worked out for them - it must have required very high initial costs for tooling and marketing.

Yep, I think they reached too high, dug too deep and then got stung by the market on a downturn.

Sucks, since the initial reviews of their dirtbikes were very promising.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Meebe my Cannondale road bike is going to be a collectors item. Sadly it has been collecting dust around here since I moved to the Boston area some years back.

 

[T2T III]

Like Mongoose and Schwinn, I guess we'll see Cannondale bicycles sold at Wal-Mart for $99.99 someday.

 

[outriding]

they did a bunch 2 really stupid things.

1. their atv divison was a blackhole they should have never done it.

2. they imposed stupid rules on dealers and alot of dealers went under. with a lack of dealers how can they sell any bikes.

well anyways they were just a klien rip off

 

[brtspears2]

Arg, another quality bike company being hit by too many Chinese bikes. But then my bike was "built in the USA" with foriegn parts. It will be a sad day when all I see is cheap, 79.99$ bikes on campuses, Huffy, Roadmaster, and those crappy ones I see at costco.

 

[exp]

Too bad (though I have never been much of a C'dale fan).

Ditto.

 

[Stark]

there will be a market for good bikes for a long, long time.

cannondale seemed to focus on a snobby elitist market instead of normal bike enthusiasts. Whenever I see one in places like REI for $500 more than a comparable bike from Trek or Specialized, I think "what a rip."

I have an old Trek road bike and two good Fisher Mtn bikes out in the garage. They were all built in the USA. Can't say I feel bad for Cannondale.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: Stark
there will be a market for good bikes for a long, long time.

cannondale seemed to focus on a snobby elitist market instead of normal bike enthusiasts. Whenever I see one in places like REI for $500 more than a comparable bike from Trek or Specialized, I think "what a rip."

Wrong. Cannondale was unique in that they offered pro-level bikes at bargain prices (relatively speaking). A frame/fork weighing in under 4 lbs for well less than $1000 is a freaking great deal if you're a racer on a budget (as most are). That was the great thing about C'dale: they bridged the gap between department store bikes and ultra-high-end Euro bikes. They offered everything from an 18-lb ready-to-race road bike to a nice hybrid bike for mom and dad. The fact is, aluminum is a relatively expensive frame material and unless you've got uber-cheap labor to slap the frames together (China or Taiwan), you're going to pay a little more if that's what you want.

I have an old Trek road bike and two good Fisher Mtn bikes out in the garage. They were all built in the USA. Can't say I feel bad for Cannondale.

Bad news: Trek now owns Fisher and all but their top-tier stuff are made overseas. The irony your statement is that Cannondale basically went under trying to introduce a line of made-in-the-USA dirt bikes and ATVs since everything currently available is Japanese or KTM. You should feel bad for Cannondale.

 

[outriding]

Originally posted by: Fausto1

Originally posted by: Stark
there will be a market for good bikes for a long, long time.

cannondale seemed to focus on a snobby elitist market instead of normal bike enthusiasts. Whenever I see one in places like REI for $500 more than a comparable bike from Trek or Specialized, I think "what a rip."

Wrong. Cannondale was unique in that they offered pro-level bikes at bargain prices (relatively speaking). A frame/fork weighing in under 4 lbs for well less than $1000 is a freaking great deal if you're a racer on a budget (as most are). That was the great thing about C'dale: they bridged the gap between department store bikes and ultra-high-end Euro bikes. They offered everything from an 18-lb ready-to-race road bike to a nice hybrid bike for mom and dad. The fact is, aluminum is a relatively expensive frame material and unless you've got uber-cheap labor to slap the frames together (China or Taiwan), you're going to pay a little more if that's what you want.

I have an old Trek road bike and two good Fisher Mtn bikes out in the garage. They were all built in the USA. Can't say I feel bad for Cannondale.

Bad news: Trek now owns Fisher and all but their top-tier stuff are made overseas. The irony your statement is that Cannondale basically went under trying to introduce a line of made-in-the-USA dirt bikes and ATVs since everything currently available is Japanese or KTM. You should feel bad for Cannondale.

a 4lb frame / fork ??? what size frame 8"...

a high end judy / manitou weighs 3lbs combine that with a trek oclv frame and you have 7lbs

btw the last i knew treks oclv frames were the lightest

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: outriding

Originally posted by: Fausto1

Originally posted by: Stark
there will be a market for good bikes for a long, long time.

cannondale seemed to focus on a snobby elitist market instead of normal bike enthusiasts. Whenever I see one in places like REI for $500 more than a comparable bike from Trek or Specialized, I think "what a rip."

Wrong. Cannondale was unique in that they offered pro-level bikes at bargain prices (relatively speaking). A frame/fork weighing in under 4 lbs for well less than $1000 is a freaking great deal if you're a racer on a budget (as most are). That was the great thing about C'dale: they bridged the gap between department store bikes and ultra-high-end Euro bikes. They offered everything from an 18-lb ready-to-race road bike to a nice hybrid bike for mom and dad. The fact is, aluminum is a relatively expensive frame material and unless you've got uber-cheap labor to slap the frames together (China or Taiwan), you're going to pay a little more if that's what you want.

I have an old Trek road bike and two good Fisher Mtn bikes out in the garage. They were all built in the USA. Can't say I feel bad for Cannondale.

Bad news: Trek now owns Fisher and all but their top-tier stuff are made overseas. The irony your statement is that Cannondale basically went under trying to introduce a line of made-in-the-USA dirt bikes and ATVs since everything currently available is Japanese or KTM. You should feel bad for Cannondale.

a 4lb frame / fork ??? what size frame 8"...

a high end judy / manitou weighs 3lbs combine that with a trek oclv frame and you have 7lbs

btw the last i knew treks oclv frames were the lightest

Hehe...I was talking about road frames specifically. The latest C'dale frames are coming in around 2.7lbs + slightly less than a pound for a carbon fork and you've got a sub-4 lb frameset.

OCLV frames don't weigh anywhere near 4lbs, btw. More like 2.2 for a road frame and a bit more for the MTB version. Lance Armstrong's complete TdF bike is right at 16 lbs IIRC. It's not too tough to put a sub-20lb front-suspension MTB together these days either.

 

[outriding]

Originally posted by: Fausto1

Originally posted by: outriding

Originally posted by: Fausto1

Originally posted by: Stark
there will be a market for good bikes for a long, long time.

cannondale seemed to focus on a snobby elitist market instead of normal bike enthusiasts. Whenever I see one in places like REI for $500 more than a comparable bike from Trek or Specialized, I think "what a rip."

Wrong. Cannondale was unique in that they offered pro-level bikes at bargain prices (relatively speaking). A frame/fork weighing in under 4 lbs for well less than $1000 is a freaking great deal if you're a racer on a budget (as most are). That was the great thing about C'dale: they bridged the gap between department store bikes and ultra-high-end Euro bikes. They offered everything from an 18-lb ready-to-race road bike to a nice hybrid bike for mom and dad. The fact is, aluminum is a relatively expensive frame material and unless you've got uber-cheap labor to slap the frames together (China or Taiwan), you're going to pay a little more if that's what you want.

I have an old Trek road bike and two good Fisher Mtn bikes out in the garage. They were all built in the USA. Can't say I feel bad for Cannondale.

Bad news: Trek now owns Fisher and all but their top-tier stuff are made overseas. The irony your statement is that Cannondale basically went under trying to introduce a line of made-in-the-USA dirt bikes and ATVs since everything currently available is Japanese or KTM. You should feel bad for Cannondale.

a 4lb frame / fork ??? what size frame 8"...

a high end judy / manitou weighs 3lbs combine that with a trek oclv frame and you have 7lbs

btw the last i knew treks oclv frames were the lightest

Hehe...I was talking about road frames specifically. The latest C'dale frames are coming in around 2.7lbs + slightly less than a pound for a carbon fork and you've got a sub-4 lb frameset.

OCLV frames don't weigh anywhere near 4lbs, btw. More like 2.2 for a road frame and a bit more for the MTB version. Lance Armstrong's complete TdF bike is right at 16 lbs IIRC. It's not too tough to put a sub-20lb front-suspension MTB together these days either.

hmmm... FELT

this is my road bike ... just a few years older and it rides like a high end steel and still really light.

i dont think i will trust myself on a sub 20lb mtn bike. i break too many things. like forks, seat posts ( 3 so far and one was a syncros ti the other 2 were control tech now i am on thompson's ) seat rails, pedals and i broke my trek oclv frame. and no i am not a fata$$ i wiegh in at 165 @ 6"1'

 

[Toasthead]

guess there just isnt the market for $3000 bikes anymore

--toast

 

[Freejack2]

I'm not suprised. Most people ride their bikes maybe a couple of times a year and only need a $70 made in China, if you fear for your life don't ride this piece of sh!t on roads, bike. For a while I was working at a job that was close enough to where I was living to make commuting by bicycle sensible. Needless to say I got myself a good Trek bike to ride to work. I didn't want to die when some $70 made in China bike failed and I fall flat on my ass into the road, meanwhile some soccer mom driving her oversized suv, talking on her cell phone, and putting on makeup, runs me over.